Donovan: NYC plan faces challenges

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said Wednesday that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vision for affordable housing in the city is a “very tall order.”

Donovan previously served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. During his tenure, he created a plan to build and preserve 165,000 units of affordable homes in 10 years – the biggest municipal plan of that kind at the time.

Story Continued Below

Speaking at POLITICO’s Morning Money Breakfast in Washington, Donovan said that de Blasio’s goal of building or preserving 200,000 affordable housing units over a decade — particularly at a time when resources have declined — will be a difficult task.

“I have a lot of admiration for him for making this an area of focus,” Donovan said. “This was one of Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg’s top priorities. We made a lot of progress, there’s more that needs to be done, and I think it’s great that he’s focused on this issue.”

Donovan added that the ability of Congress to produce legislation overhauling the housing finance market would have a huge impact on de Blasio’s goals for New York City, and that without a plan from Washington, the mayor’s goals may be “close to impossible” to achieve.

“One of the most important things that you can get out of housing finance reform is a substantial – more than $5 billion a year investment in affordable housing,” he said. “That would mean an enormous amount to New York City, it would mean an enormous amount to communities all around the country.”

Alicia Glen, de Blasio’s Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, said in a statement that she agrees that their plan for New York City is ambitious.

“We will need Congress to do its part on the critical issue of public housing and restoring funding to fundamental programs like HOME and Section 8,” she said in a statement. “We are confident we will accomplish our goal, and help thousands of New Yorkers struggling to keep up with skyrocketing rents.”

Earlier, Donovan said that he felt optimistic about a bipartisan plan emerging from Congress this year, and that HUD has been in close contact with members of the Senate Banking Committee, who are in the process of drafting a plan.